1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to beverage dispensing and in a preferred embodiment to a flow control valve therefor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Postmix orange juice dispensing systems are known. Orange juice concentrate is distributed frozen. Restaurants remove concentrate from the freezer and thaw the concentrate in a cooler prior to dispensing. The restaurant has to estimate its juice requirements at least two days in advance and place sufficient concentrate in its cooler. If the restaurant's estimates are incorrect or if someone forgets, the restaurant will run out of thawed concentrate. Also, there is often a limited amount of cooler space available for thawing orange juice concentrate. When a restaurant runs out of thawed concentrate, measures are sometimes taken to quickly thaw frozen concentrate and such measures often are inefficient and ineffective and also sometimes affect the taste of the resulting product. Orange juice concentrate has typically been 3+1 concentrate. The present invention is useful preferably with 5+1 concentrate, although it can be used with any desired ratio up to about 7.5+1. The reduced amount of water in 5+1 concentrate prevents a phase change or freezing, at typical freezer temperatures of -10.degree. F. to 0.degree. F. The 5+1 concentrate at freezer temperatures does not readily flow by gravity. A container of 0.degree. F. product can be inverted and no product will flow out. Also, the product is so thick that a pump's suction cannot pull product from the container. However, the product is still pliable.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a flow control valve for a beverage dispensing system.